Evaluation and power of seroprevalence studies depend on the performed serological assays. The aim of this study was to assess four commercial serological tests from EUROIMMUN, DiaSorin, Abbott, and Roche as well as an in-house immunofluorescence and neutralization test for their capability to identify SARS-CoV-2 seropositive individuals in a high-prevalence setting. Therefore, 42 social and working contacts of a German super-...

Chagas disease is a zoonosis caused by Trypanosoma cruzi and transmitted by triatomine bugs. Autochthonous to Latin America, Chagas disease has spread globally through travel and migration. New drugs are needed urgently, in particular drugs that cure the chronic stage. This is where high-content imaging makes a key contribution: assays with fluorescent parasites in cell culture allow to determine pharmacodynamic parameters and...

Summary Xenorhabdus doucetiae , the bacterial symbiont of the entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema diaprepesi produces several different fatty acid amides. Their biosynthesis has been studied using a combination of analysis of gene deletions and promoter exchanges in X. doucetiae and heterologous expression of candidate genes in E. coli . While a decarboxylase is required for the formation of all observed phenylethylamides an...

Management and technical approaches that achieve a sustainable level of fish production while at the same time minimizing or limiting the wider ecological effects caused through fishing gear contact with the seabed might be considered to be ‘best practice’. To identify future knowledge‐needs that would help to support a transition towards the adoption of best practices for trawling, a prioritization exercise was undertaken wit...

Summary Inputs of CH 4 from sediments, including methane seeps on the continental margin and methane‐rich mud volcanoes on the abyssal plain, make the Black Sea the world’s largest surface water reservoir of dissolved methane and drive a high rate of aerobic and anaerobic oxidation of methane in the water column. Here we present the first combined organic geochemical and molecular ecology data on a water column profile of the...

Summary Here we provide the first direct evidence for the anammox process (anaerobic ammonium oxidation) in a lacustrine system, Lake Tanganyika, the second largest lake in the world. Incubations with 15 N labelled nitrate showed that anammox occurred in the suboxic water layer at 100–110 m water depth. Anammox rates up to 10 nM N 2 h −1 are comparable to those reported for the marine water column. Up to ∼13% of produced N 2 c...